BACKGROUND: Traumatic head injury is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. How clinicopathological features differ by age remains unclear. This epidemiological study analyzed the clinicopathological features of patients with head injury belonging to 3 age groups.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data of patients with traumatic head injury were obtained from the Department of Cerebral Surgery of the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University and the Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital in 2011–2015. Their clinicopathological parameters were assessed. The patients were divided into 3 age groups: elderly (≥65 years), middle-aged (18–64 years), and juvenile (≤17 years) individuals.

RESULTS: Among 3356 hospitalizations for traumatic head injury (2573 males and 783 females, 654 died (19.49%), the highest and lowest mortality rates were in the elderly and juvenile groups, respectively. Fall was the most common cause in juvenile and elderly individuals (32.79% and 43.95%, respectively), while traffic injury was most common in the elderly group (35.08%). The manners of injury differed considerably among the 3 age groups. Scalp injury, skull fracture, intracranial hematoma, and cerebral injury were the most common mechanisms in juvenile (67.32%), middle-aged (63.50%), elderly (69.56%) and middle-aged (90.44%) individuals, respectively. Scalp injury and skull fracture types differed among the groups. Epidural, subdural, and intracerebral hematomas were most common in juvenile, middle-aged, and elderly individuals, respectively. Cerebral contusion showed the highest frequency in the 3 groups, and concussion the lowest.

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with traumatic HI show remarkable differences in clinicopathological features among juvenile, middle-aged, and elderly individuals.

Keywords: Head Injuries, Closed, Population Characteristics